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We *still* have a problem with race in the U.S.

Our local and state law enforcement agencies around the country are still racially profiling and discriminating against black males with the same 20th century mindset we thought we left behind. The injustice of our justice system did not end after the cvil-rights era. What is particularly outrageous is how individual stories like these are finally getting the media attention they deserve in 2013. What is horrifying to think about though are all the cases of this kind of behavior that go on every day that are not reported or brought to America's attention. Here are two recent examples:

Earl Sampson has been stopped and questioned by Miami Gardens police 258 times in four years.He’s been searched more than 100 times. And arrested and jailed 56 times.Despite his long rap sheet, Sampson, 28, has never been convicted of anything more serious than possession of marijuana.Miami Gardens police have arrested Sampson 62 times for one offense: trespassing.Almost every citation was issued at the same place: the 207 Quickstop, a convenience store on 207th Street in Miami Gardens.But Sampson isn’t loitering. He works as a clerk at the Quickstop.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/2...#storylink=cpy
The Miami Herald recently reported this outrageous story of racial profiling. I cannot even begin to feel the shame and anger if I went to work and was arrested for doing my job because police thought I was up to trouble because of the color of my skin. Read the article, and then watch the video clip. Can you imagine the store owner started installing cameras not to protect his store from robberies, but to protect his employees from the police? It's unbelievable that this is happening in the year 2013.

Even more infuriating is this story of a black teenager who was arrested and held in jail for 3 years of his life without being convicted of a crime in New York:

Words cannot express the injustice of what is happening here. It is truly sickening, by the fact that you can't walk home on a public street without being accused of theft by the police and arrested. Then to be held for years where the judge attempts to coerce you to accept a guilty plea for a crime you didn't do to "save you jail time."

Re: We *still* have a problem with race in the U.S.

I can't believe that this nuanced article in the link about this preposterous behavior by the police in Miami Gardens received absolutely no attention, while the relatively stupid incident at Barneys that could be construed as a simple mistake was enough to send JUBbers into a feeding frenzy...

Re: We *still* have a problem with race in the U.S.

It's noteworthy that the United States media is reporting police abuse of innocent people....the next step is to ensure that those in authority stop the police harassing Earl Sampson. The New York teen remanded in custody for three years beggers belief....the incident at Barney's was no simple mistake...transparently, a case of racial profiling....no mistake about it....tragically, police abuse is a fact of life in all countries, with the further observation that the darker ones skin pigmentation the greater the risk of being stopped by the police, and being frisked....here, in Greece Asian refugees, and young Roma (Gypsy) males the constant target of police harassment...

Re: We *still* have a problem with race in the U.S.

^ While I do acknowledge the civil rights of dark-skinned gypsies in Europe, I've seen with my own two eyes that much of the attention they get from the police isn't undeserved.

While "serious" criminals avoid police detection for appearances are often deceptive.....who would suspect a banker, driving a Mercedes of being a thief? Bernie Madoff got his just desserts....the rest get on with doing, what they do best...milking the system.

Re: We *still* have a problem with race in the U.S.

This reminds me a lot of Corvallis when I was at Oregon State: the police would sit outside the bars and wait to see someone apparently inebriated and haul them in, even though many cases were thrown out. Meanwhile, theft and assault and even rape were going on around the city and on the university campus. They hung out where they could get easy arrests and rack up the points, which they got for arrests even if the case was thrown out or there was no conviction.

But as a former law enforcement officer who sat (may still) on the NRA board noted, "law enforcement" has become about professional advancement regardless of whether or not justice is served.

If this doesn't tell people that we're turning into a police state, I don't know what will.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "